take a deep breath
by zakuro crow
Summary: "Who's the child demon, the one that sleeps in the other room? Is she related to you?" Mujika shakes her head, "No, she's not. Sonju found her unconscious in the forest before we found you all. She's been sleeping for more than five days now, so we've been taking care of her since, but I have hope." (In where Kamado Nezuko is brought to the Demon World, and chaos ensues.)
1. Chapter 1

**I.**

* * *

The pink-eyed demon blinks, canting her pretty face to the side.

The bamboo piece tied around her mouth prevented her from speaking, so the occasional noises and head tilts were the only way to truly understand her. She huddled closes under her haori as an attempt to hide away from the sunlight, but the linen cloth wasn't doing a great job.

It was strange.

The female demon had an abrupt awakening in such a sunny place. Every step she took the ground rippled like a droplet of water hitting the surface. Her claw-like nails traced the ground, which reflected the bright dots in the sky that were called _'stars' _.

_("Ni-chan, look!" Many twinkling stars decorated the dark sky. The little girl that hugged the side of a boy pointed to the night sky, to one star in particular. _

_"__There are so many stars tonight." The red-eyed girl sighs, marveling every twinkling speck. The boy laughed, patting her head. "I like that one! It's the brightest of all, Tanjiro!")_

The petite girl inclines her head, the brown strips of her hair swaying, and her blank eyes stare aimlessly at the specks that ever so glittered cross the rippling ground.

That boy—_Ni-chan!_—she saw when she opened her eyes. He protected her, recklessly. Jumping in between her and the slayer. Though somewhere inside her mind, the emotions in her chest rose with _love _and _protection._

That was what she last remembered, with the man in the tengu mask appeared before she drifted off to sleep.

Nezuko buries herself further under her clothes, shrinking.

"The sunlight here isn't real. It won't hurt you." Nezuko gingerly lifts the haori out of her vision, peeking out. She hums in question.

A much taller figure with its hands behind its back lingers over her. It wore foreign garments and the air around it screamed royalty. The claws and talon-like feet that moved were inhuman, like a demon.

_Powerful, _her instincts cowered, _dangerous._

"I wonder if your ancestors did the right choice of staying behind in Human territory… Evolving into beings that hold mystical powers."

It kneels, lifting the hem of the robe that shielded her. Nezuko glared in warning, her veins beginning to pop. It tilts its head, the huge eye in the middle watches her unblinkingly.

"You are welcome to come back here," It speaks, the playful koi swimming around it. "If you dare."

A floating koi swims towards her. She blinks. Her hands automatically reach towards the whimsical fish that swam in the air.

_Home, _her demonic instincts bounced in excitement. Reluctance and uneasiness then swelled up in her stomach, so Nezuko couldn't help but cower away from the koi that went to her.

_(... "I promise I'll buy you beautiful clothes when you turn back, Nezuko." …)_

Where's home? Home. Auburn eyes flashed in her mind, many of them. Young and old.

_But they're gone._

No, no. _He's _not gone. She saw him.

_"__Ni-chan!"_

**_"_****_Will you go home, to the Human World? Or the home of your many ancestors. The Demon World?"_**

A bright flash occurs.

* * *

**II.**

* * *

A few days have passed ever since they've escaped from Grace Field.

Emma walked up to Mujika, who was cutting up the food with Jemima and Chris. The 11-year-old was curious about the extra guest among the group ever since she woke up.

The extra guest, as Emma's curiosity got the better of her, was a demon like Mujika. Though, this one didn't wear a mask like them. They looked human, but the inhuman vertical line the eyes were set in said otherwise.

"Mujika?" Emma called out to get the female demon's attention from a few feet away.

"Yes?" Mujika said with a smile, putting the sliced greens into the boiling pot. Some of the children were out with Sonju who was teaching them how to hunt, among them was Ray, Don, and Gilda. The rest of the younger ones, including Emma, were here with Mujika.

"I've been meaning to ask!" Her mind wandered back to the tiny form of a demon child wrapped in a big robe sleeping in the caves. She, the tiny child, never woke up ever since they came into the care of Sonju and Mujika.

Was she related to them? Their child perhaps?

"Who's the child demon, the one that sleeps in the other room? Is she related to you?"

Mujika shakes her head, "No, she's not. Sonju found her unconscious in the forest before we found you all. She's been sleeping for more than five days now, so we've been taking care of her since, but I have hope."

The orange-haired girl nodded, still curious about the slumbering guest around the corner, offering to help the children with the food.

If the child demon wasn't related to Mujika and Sonju, then would that mean they too ate humans?

It wasn't a pleasant thought but it probably explained why they were separated from everyone else.

_But what happened to you? Why are you sleeping for so long?_

"We're back!" Don calls out, running back to where the group finished with cooking the supper.

"We've caught dinner!" Thoma and Lani hold up two dead birds proudly.

_Family, peace, and a warm meal._

* * *

_take a deep breath_ is also on ao3! I'll leave this here for now until the next update.

Or, well, _when_ the next update comes.


	2. Chapter 2

**I.**

* * *

"You're not the type of person to rescue a child, Sonju." Mujika starts as a matter of fact.

The tiny figure of a maskless child demon slept in her arms with no care in the world.

"Well," Sonju frowns, "Think of it as an important reason." He gestures to the bark that was lodged in the child's mouth and tied securely around her head.

They may have been running criminals wanted by the Royal Family themselves but at least they _did _care.

"...they have a muzzle attached to them." Mujika fingers the thick bark, tugging at the dark pink string. Although the string was thin, it was durable enough to not be cut through.

"Obviously."

Mujika recalls the days where the conflict of Humans and Demons still raged on. Demons ruthlessly hunted humans, while humans strived to fight back.

It was also common in those days for both sides to keep prisoners for information, or slaves to do their biddings.

Humans were sacrificed as pets or offerings to the so-called gods by their worshippers. Young Demon children were kept and raised to be child weapons by the human side, chained and muzzled down.

In the present day, a child as small as the one in her arms that wore no mask would be indifferent. But with a thick piece of bark tied around the child's mouth?

Mujika frowned.

After spending his time staring at the sleeping child, Sonju stands up and walks the opposite way with his spear.

"Sonju? Where are you going?"

"To give whoever dropped them in this infested forest a piece of my mind."

* * *

**II.**

* * *

_"__Emergency! Emergency!"_

The Kasugaigarasu repeats urgently, flying in circles above the home of one Urokodaki Sakonji at the earliest of dawn.

It had been four days since the former Pillar had sent his recent student, Kamado Tanjiro, to the Final Selection.

It had been two years since he's trained the boy.

Also, as time passed in the middle of those two years, the young demon girl, Nezuko, had vanished into thin air one night right in front of his eyes.

Urokodaki thought it was an accidental use of a demon technique but her scent was gone. He couldn't even find it. Not around the mountain nor in the depths of the forest.

The crow caws its message obnoxiously, _"An international meeting is being held regarding the use of the World Gate! This message is being sent to all Demon Hunters!"_

It continued to caw viciously, the sender of the Kasugaigarasu agitated by the situation.

The former Water Pillar felt an upcoming headache.

* * *

**III.**

* * *

_"__Your mission is to kill the mediator that protects the Promise between our two worlds."_

_"__Once they are killed, the promise is broken. The two worlds that had been one will reconnect once again."_

For the first time, the six Lower Moons of the Twelve Demon Moons have come together.

"...This is the entrance that the hunters protect?" Lower Moon Four speaks, voice quiet while cocking their head.

It was a Shinto Shrine guarded by a torii gate. Lower Moon Six faintly remembers from his human memories that the gate was there to repel evil spirits and demons.

They weren't ordinary demons.

If the gateway to the Demon's world was protected, then why wasn't there any hunters nearby?

There were no humans, Six deduced, and there were no wisteria trees.

Lower Moon One steps through the gate, smiling whimsically.

"Let the Lower Moons prove that we are useful by doing what the Upper Moons aren't."

* * *

Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be playing every route to FE Three Houses for two weeks until I win the game.


	3. Chapter 3

It was dead into the night and Sonju was left watching the crackling fire.

It is the day till the next that the Grace Field escapees would reach the end of the tunnels. Although he wouldn't admit it, the elder demon had grown attached to the cattle children. Mujika herself had shown genuine affection for the little ones, an affection he hasn't seen since he's found her all those centuries ago…

Still, he can't help but mull over their mystery kid.

When he first found the kid, they were floating in a nearby stream unconscious. Sonju had pulled them out, courtesy of Mujika fretting over the young one, before they would be pulled deeper.

_(... The kid was in Mujika's hold, wrapped in his now soaked cloak. Wordlessly, Sonju sat on the ground and peered at them. A soft, unblemished, maskless baby face swaddled in wet clothes stared back at him._

_He frowns as he watches his companion fiddle with the green bark lodged in its mouth. _

"_Are you sure it's female?" Mujika stopped trying to rip off the green bark and pursed her lips. _

_Sonju shrugs, fiddling with his spear. "I mean it's not like I can check its biology, can I?"_

_The female demon looks affronted or at least tries to. She shakes her head, no longer fingering the bark_—_the muzzle, his mind cuts in._

_The air around Mujika becomes uneasy, as she herself becomes jittery in place between glancing at him, the child, and the stream …)_

Nowadays, it was uncommon to have the mention of child slavery come around. Despite being away from civilization, the estranged prince had always found a way to listen to present news whenever they traveled about.

That and the lucky participants that would willingly come after the duo would tell them in passing quite literally.

Sonju hadn't found anything that caught his eye when he went back to investigate the river. He tried to get a whiff of the kid but Mujika, with her mother hen instincts, slapped him when he got close.

Whoever had dumped them off were gone. No scent to be traced, only to be washed away by the water. He found no footprints around the perimeter either.

It was as if the kid appeared out of nowhere. _But how?_

The flame shrunk as time went by. The light flickers, the firewood weakening as the cold of the night seeped into the tunnels. Sonju wordlessly adds more firewood to the flame, watching it.

In the midst of his night duty, he hears the faint snores coming from the other part of the tunnel. Among the noise, he hears a slight shuffling. Instinctively, his hand twitches towards the spear that laid against the wall.

It was probably one of the kids.

It _could_ be nothing.

Yeah, as if _words _could stop him.

Sonju slowly stood up, pulling the large hood over his head, obscuring his mask into a shadow. He makes his way over to the persisting sound, weapon at a ready to strike.

His paranoia had no bounds, after all.

Then, something small bumped his leg. Sonju blinks as he hears a tiny grunt. He looks down.

Sonju feels his face make an expression he can't really make a clue out of, but with what's happening right now could go wrong in so many ways and he can't pay attention to it.

It was a tiny child. The elder demon bit back an uncharacteristic gasp that would make Mujika laugh at him for _hours_. He was a bit spooked when hot pink eyes gazed up at him. A bright pink like that wasn't what you've seen in everyday figures.

The green muzzle covered their—her—mouth, the durable pink string tied around their head. The oversized colorful robes dragged through too many things brought them down. Oddly enough, Sonju couldn't help but think of those human dolls he'd find when he was younger.

Pink orbs watched him in curious wariness. She makes a muffled noise of askance, eyeing his spear. Sonju puts it down carefully, quietly.

Both demons were tensed but made no move to do anything. The child blinks slowly several times, her abnormal eyes gazing up at him with an unreadable soft tilt.

It made Sonju incredibly awkward like he wanted to do something but his centuries upon century-year-old body wouldn't let him.

Like a puppet on strings, the kid reaches a claw towards his pant leg. She pats it hypnotizing. Then he feels the claws sinking through his pants. He makes no move as the child climbs him like a tree. Even the human children sleeping in the distance weren't this touchy, but at least kept their distance at a minimum.

Sonju just let it happen.

"Hmm?!" He hears muffled laughter behind him. Mujika stands there, a sleeve covering up her giggles as she watches them. The kid clung to his many layers of hoods that rested on his shoulders like a monkey.

"Have you been standing there this whole time?" Sonju asked incredulously, not making any attempts to rip the kid off.

Mujika hides a smile, light chuckling still coming from her throat. "She woke up when I was tucking in the children. Did the same thing but ran away before I could say anything." She comes over with a big smile adorning her face.

She coos, her finger lightly running down the child's face. The child leans into her touch, slitted eyes looking back at her.

"I wonder, who would ever abandon a lovely girl like you?"

* * *

"...As you all know, Mount Natagumo holds one of the five world gates that lead into the original world where humanity had once inhabited. It has been recently opened. By what the reports of surrounding Kasugaigarasu watching over the gate, Muzan Kibutsuji and the lower ranks of the Twelve Demon moons were seen destroying the seal and passing through."

"Lower Moons Three and Six have been dealt with accordingly. I feel as though the disappearance of Kamado Nezuko, a human turned demon and sister to my apprentice Kamado Tanjirou, is related to the other circulating mysteries that have been happening for weeks."

"'Former Water Pillar, Urokodaki Sakonji.'" Ubuyashiki Amane finished, rolling the letter sent by Urokodaki.

_Nezuko… _Tanjiro's eyes started to burn furiously with tears of realization and joy he's thought he'd never believed the words that he'd just heard.

His sister was alive. Not in this world, in another. A world where humans and demons once lived together with their own conflicts, only for the humans to move to a secondary world where they can prosper. The world they inhabit now.

_I'm coming. _The head of the Demon Slayer corps talked on while the Hashira added in their own words. _I'm going to make sure we'll meet each other again._

"That is why I would like to have a group of two leading Hashira go after the remaining Lower Moons."

What?

* * *

Not dead, just a bit tired. And overworked. And sleep-deprived.


End file.
